Perelandra - eGuide from Progeny Press ~ A New TOS Review!!!

During the summer we generally do not *stop* schooling all together. We keep up the basics and then add in some fun stuff. So we continue reading and doing math because if not we lose some skills. So I was interested in learning more about Progeny Press and their Literature study guides. We (my daughter had slightly less enthusiasm then I) decided to give the high school level study guide for Perelandra - eGuide a try.

I had heard about Progeny Press before, but I have not used any of their products. I found out that it is a family owned business created in 1992 by Michael and Rebecca Gilleland who also homeschool. THey started their company because they could not find any literature studies that taught "classic cultural literature that also combined Christian perspective" so they worked with another homeschooling friend and wrote one themselves. After it was test run in a local Christian school the principal wanted all they had. By 1993, they had 18. Now, they have over 115 which are broken into 4 categories (lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school, and high school). That's pretty amazing!

Progeny Press has a motto which says they are all about trying to help the student think clearly, understand the literature text they are reading, and to rely on Scripture as their measure of truth. These are all things with which I totally agree and are seen throughout their eGuides. What is an eGuide? Well, it is an electronic downloadable version of the study guide accessible as a PDF. It's a great way to save time and money. And now all of their studies are what is called 'Interactive Study Guides' where the student can enter their answers directly into the computer so you don't have to print out the guide or have them write in a separate notebook to save. That way you can also grade right on the computer and even leave notes for your student. You can go to their support page to get more help on how to do just that.

Answer Key

For each of the guides your student needs easy access to a dictionary, thesaurus, a Bible (they use NIV). They also may need access to an encyclopedia and a Biblical concordance. We found ones on the web, but we also have hard copies of many of these.

The studies include some background information, activities, questions regarding the content of the book, literary and critical analysis questions, and an answer key. This particular study guide for Perelandra - eGuide also had a synopsis of this book and the first in the trilogy so that if you had not read the first one you could at least have a quick overview so you aren't totally lost.

Most of the middle and high school study guides should take anywhere from eight to ten weeks to complete. They do recommend that you read the whole book first and then go back to do the guide, but my daughter had chosen to read the chapters and do those sections at the same time while it was fresh in her thoughts. Since it is summer I let her do it whatever way worked. Here are some of her thoughts,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arianna's Thoughts:
At first I was very confused about the book itself seeing as it is set on the planet Venus which is Perelandra. And it talks about a lot of weird words, characters and parts that were just, ... well strange.

At first I read the chapter or two that's assigned and then open up the study guide that is saved on my USB. I am then able to read the questions and instead of having to hand write the answers, I can type them into the interactive PDF. The "blanks" are like a light blue color box and when you click on the box and begin typing the box turns white. That was pretty cool. I did have some times where it didn't save ... which is kind of my fault. You have to go and "save as" so it will save your new work. I had to learn that. It took a couple of tries.

Dig Deeper Questions

Dig Deeper filled in

Each section of the study guide is focused on 1 or 2 chapters. The first few have been 2 chapters. As you get further into the book when you open the guide you can click on the chapter that you are working on straight from the Table of Contents and it takes you to that section. Voila!

Table of Contents

There are 4 sections for each chapter set ... Vocabulary, Questions, Analysis, and Dig Deeper. The vocab section does a variety of things covering., descriptive words, antonyms, definitions, and word meanings. The questions were sentences from the book about things that had happened and then ask you why or what or how. The analysis questions were mostly comparing and contrasting different scenarios or relating it to Scripture. Last we have the Dig Deeper sections where you would apply it to your own life and seeing how you would do the same or different then the characters and use heartfelt Scriptures for your reasonings.

Analysis questions

See the light blue boxes?

Overall, these studies have helped me think more deeply about the issues that have arisen in the book. They aren't my favorite, but I see how they have helped me become a better reader. It has helped me to slow down and really delve into the books.  I personally think that you should try their eGuides for yourself because everyone has a different opinion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you don't have the book Perelandra you can purchase directly from their website. We had a copy of the trilogy (which now my daughter wants to go back to read the first book in the trilogy since she had never heard of this series, but is intrigued now that she's over half way through the book.) You might also want to check out their FAQ section which gives many more details about their study guides.

You can find Progeny Press on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. And as always be sure to check out the other reviews. We did not all get the same book study guide. Some received The Josephina Story Quilt - eGuide, The Green Book - eGuide, or The Scavengers - eGuide and not Perelandra - eGuide. Just click the link below!